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REGIONAL EDITOR
Stacy Graning
COMMUNITY EDITOR
Jan Griffey
CONTRIBUTERS
Stacy Graning
Jan Griffey
Ben Hillyer
Sabrina Robertson
MARKETING
Justin Clarkston
Lisa Sanders
DeNora Stewart
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Copyright 2025 by Natchez Newspapers, Inc.
MMy father was a bird-watcher.
Our home was graced by large sliding glass doors across the back, providing a view of yard from multiple rooms. I remember him sitting at the kitchen table, coffee cup in hand, flipping through one of his many guide books to share salient details about the winged creatures that seemed to love our back yard.
“That’s a Rufus-sided Towhee,” he would proclaim to anyone who was nearby. “What the heck kind of name is that?”
His dedication to the birds was tireless. He had at least half a dozen birdhouses in the yard at any time and diligently filled them twice a day, always tweaking his mix of birdseed for optimum appeal. He fought a constant battle with neighborhood cats. He never hunted, but he was quick to fire a BB gun near an errant feline who crept into our yard in search of birds.
And he waged a life-long battle with the squirrels, who loved his birdfeeders as much as the birds.
As a child, the appeal of birds was lost on me. They were, simply, “Dad’s thing.” But in recent years, in quiet moments stolen on a front porch, I’ve found myself listening to the birdsong and trying to identify the different species, remembering the random facts that my Dad shared all those years ago.
Perhaps that’s why I was so intrigued when Bob Strader reached out to us about his Purple Martin colony here in Natchez. My dad loved Purple Martins and tried – unsuccessfully – to lure them to our yard. Bob and a small group of dedicated birders here in Natchez have been “Purple Martin landlords” for several years now, providing colonies for these fascinating birds to nest each year. It’s a fascinating process, and Bob and his fellow birders are encouraging others in the Miss-Lou area to join in the fun of helping provide for these important birds.
That story hints at an unexpected theme of this edition of Natchez The Magazine – nature. Sabrina Robertson and Ben Hillyer spent the day with Ken Ensminger, a local beekeeper, to learn about the art. For those who don’t know, bee colonies are just as precious and important as Purple Martin colonies –perhaps even more so, as bees are responsible for helping pollinate so many crops. What was once a common practice – beekeeping – is rarer these days, although folks like Ken are keeping the tradition alive.
And Jan Griffey takes us to the Middletons’ home on Lake Concordia, where nature helps nurture a family and their lives. It’s a beautiful home and a gentle reminder that time spent slowing down in nature is always important.
There’s much to learn and enjoy in this edition of Natchez The Magazine. FROM THE EDITOR
Cool Down
As days roll from spring to summer, temperatures and humidity are on the rise in the Miss-Lou. Long, hot days outdoors at the lake or the ballfield fade into muggy nights rocking on a porch, watching the fireflies and seeking respite in dark of the evening.
As any good Southerner will testify, cool treats are a necessity during the spring and summer months. From the classic ice creams churned at home to the ubiquitous popsicles that drip their syrupy goodness on children’s hands, there’s nothing quite as refreshing and indulgent as a frozen treat during the summer. But don’t limit yourself to the tried-and-true. Here are some ideas for a fresh twist on cool treats this year.
VANILLA-ALMOND ICE CREAM WITH CHERRIES AND PISTACHIOS
Adapted from Food and Wine
To serve, whip cream to soft peaks; estimate 2 tablespoons unwhipped cream per serving so you don’t have to make too much at at ime. Place one spoonful in the bottom of a small glass. Scoop granita on top. Top with a much larger tuft of cream. Eat with a spoon on a hot day.
INGREDIENTS
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
11/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
3/4 cup fresh cherries, pitted and halved
1/4 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely
chopped
DIRECTIONS
Set a medium bowl in a large bowl of ice water. In another medium bowl, beat the egg yolks until pale, 1 to 2 minutes.
In a medium saucepan, whisk the cream with the milk, sugar, salt and the vanilla bean and seeds. Bring to a simmer, whisking, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Very gradually whisk half of the hot cream mixture into the beaten egg yolks in a thin stream, then whisk this mixture into the saucepan. Cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to lightly coat the back of the spoon, about 12 minutes; don’t let it boil.
Strain the custard through a medium-mesh strainer into the bowl set in the ice water; discard the vanilla bean. Let the custard cool completely,
stirring occasionally. Stir in the almond extract. Pour into a large resealable freezer bag and seal, pressing out the air. Lay the bag flat in the freezer and freeze until firm, at least 8 hours or overnight.
Working quickly, in batches if necessary, transfer the frozen custard to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse at 5-second intervals until smooth. Transfer the custard to a chilled 9-by-4-inch metal loaf pan and fold in the cherries and pistachios. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, about 6 hours or overnight.
Make Ahead
The ice cream can be frozen for up to 1 week
Notes
Instead of cherries and pistachios, try folding in 1 cup of chopped chocolate-covered pretzels or chopped halvah.
PEACH MELBA POPSICLES
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup whole raspberries
2 cups peeled chopped peaches in small/medium chunks
1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream, frozen yogurt or non-dairy vanilla ice cream of your choice, slightly softened (think: soft-serve consistency)
DIRECTIONS
Combine sugar and water in a small-medium saucepan (intentionally larger than it requires) and bring to a simmer; stir until sugar dissolves. Pour 1/4 cup syrup (just eyeball it — it’s 1/3 of mixture) over raspberries in a bowl. Add peach chunks to remaining syrup in saucepan and bring back to
a simmer, cook for 1 to 2 minute, until they soften. Let both raspberries and peaches cool in syrup. The raspberries will quickly but you can hasten the peaches along by setting them in a larger bowl of ice water for 10 to 15 minutes. In a blender or food processor, puree peaches and their syrup first, then scrape into a measuring cup with a spout and stir in almond extract, if using, then puree raspberries and place in a smaller spouted cup. (The raspberry color would muddle the peach puree much more than vice-versa, hence blending peaches first.)
Pour a tiny splash of raspberry (you’ll only want to use half of your total sauce) in the bottom of each popsicle mold or small glass that you’re using as a mold (I like champagne flutes, for this and really everything), following by a larger splash of peaches (again, using about half the puree) and dolloping in a little softened ice cream. Repeat with remaining raspberry, peaches and ice cream. Use a skewer to lightly marble the mixtures together — I get the best swirls by swiping the skewer right along the inside of each mold. Freeze popsicles according to manufacturer’s instructions.
ESPRESSO GRANITA WITH WHIPPED CREAM
[GRANITA DI ESPRESSO CON PANNA]
By Smitten Kitchen, Inspired by Tazza d’Oro, Roma, Italy Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
2 cups freshly-brewed espresso (from about 14 single shots or 7 doubles)
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream
DIRECTIONS
When espresso is still hot, stir in sugar. Chill espresso in fridge until completely cold. This will immensely speed up the time it takes to freeze. Once cold, pour into a large, wide baking dish; I’d recommend something ceramic, glass or enameled over a metal-surfaced baking pan. If you’re me, clear your horribly overstuffed freezer of things that can survive outside of it for a few hours. Place dish in now-cleared freezer and freeze for one hour, then remove the mixture and scrape with two forks to break up the ice. (Your freezing time will vary, depending on the temperature and muscle of your freezer.) Return to the freezer and freeze until solid, about 2 to 3 hours, scraping it again with forks every 30 minutes or so.
INGREDIENTS
by the Lea-Wilson Family
12/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (425 ml) heavy cream
1 tsp. finer flaked or smoked sea salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
1/3 cup (50 g) hazelnuts, toasted
One 14-oz. (397 g) can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup (125 ml) very strong coffee or espresso, cooled
DIRECTIONS
Using an electric whisk, beat the cream, salt, and vanilla together in a large bowl until the mixture resembles plain yogurt.
Rub the toasted hazelnuts together in a clean tea towel to remove as much of their skins as possible. Discard the papery skins and roughly chop the nuts. Set aside a tablespoon or so to sprinkle over the top, then add most of the nuts, the condensed milk, and cooled coffee to the cream mix and beat together until it thickens to the consistency of yogurt.
Pour the mixture into a 900 g (2 lb.) loaf pan, sprinkle over the reserved hazelnuts, and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the freezer for at least 8 hours, or overnight. Remove the ice cream from the freezer 5 minutes before serving. The ice cream will keep, covered in the freezer, for three months.
NO-CHURN HAZELNUT ESPRESSO ICE CREAM
From “Sea Salt: A Perfectly Seasoned Cookbook”
GIVE A GIFT OF FUN
These Spongelle sponges are the perfect hostess gift or treat for yourself.
Silver Street Gifts, $16
Red, white & blue for you
From Memorial Day to the Fourth of July, summertime is the season for showing our patriotic pride. And thanks to merchants throughout the Miss-Lou, you can find plenty of red, white and blue to help celebrate.
THE PERFECT HAT?
We all know it’s about the right fit, and this trucker hat fits the bill with a fun message to boot.
Sports Center, $30
SUMMERTIME BLUES
Whether dining al fresco or indoors, this blue pitcher and glasses set is a must have.
A good cooler is a must-have in Miss-Lou summers, and there’s nothing better than a Yeti. This navy blue is perfect for lake days and flotilla fun. Sports Center, $200
PUT A HAT ON IT
This patriotic straw hat is perfect for lake days and Fourth of July celebration Bless this Mess, $8
WATERMELON FUN
Still in the kitchen, this cotton crocheted dish scrub adds a bit of whimsy to everyday chores..
Moreton’s Flowerland, $3.99
A LITTLE BLING
These Katie Renee dark blue and gold earrings are the perfect accessory for summer fun. Bless This Mess, $15
KITCHEN COOL
These patterned dish cloths are a fun addition to any kitchen this
Moreton’s Flowerland,
STRIPES IN THE KITCHEN
If you’re looking for a subtle statement, these USA dishtowels are perfect. Silver Street Gifts, $12
PUT IT ON A PILLOW
These fun USA pillows are a great way to show your patriotism. Silver Street Gifts, $29
What to read next?
New and new-to-you recommendations from fiction to non-fiction.
WE ALL LIVE HERE
Jojo Moyes
This is Jojo Moyes at her best. It had great character development, where you started to fall in love with all the interesting family members. It’s a story of how we all make mistakes, but with time we learn and grow. I wanted to move in with them as well, get to know them and bask in the warmth of their love.
A LITTLE LIFE
Hanya Yanagihara
When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity.
RISING TIDE
John M. Barry
An account of the 1927 Mississippi River flood explores one of the greatest national disasters the United States has ever experienced and its consequences in a comprehensive volume that clearly shows how the flood changed the course of history. 60,000 first printing. Tour.
DR. MARY’S MONKEY
Edward T.Haslam
The 1964 murder of a nationally known cancer researcher sets the stage for this gripping exposé of medical professionals enmeshed in covert government operations over the course of three decades. Following a trail of police records, FBI files, cancer statistics, and medical journals, this revealing book presents evidence of a web of medical secret-keeping that began with the handling of evidence in the JFK assassination and continued apace, sweeping doctors into coverups of cancer outbreaks, contaminated polio vaccine, the arrival of the AIDS virus, and biological weapon research using infected monkeys.
BURY OUR BONES IN THE MIDNIGHT SOIL
V.E. Schwab
From V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger. This is a story about hunger. This is a story about love. This is a story about rage.
THE AMALFI CURSE
Sarah Penner Haven Ambrose, a trailblazing nautical archaeologist, has come to the sunsoaked
village of Positano to investigate the mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast. But Haven is hoping to find more than old artifacts beneath the azure waters; she is secretly on a quest to locate a trove of priceless gemstones her late father spotted on his final dive. Upon Haven’s arrival, strange maelstroms and misfortunes start plaguing the town. Is it nature or something more sinister at work?
HORSE
Geraldine Brooks
The 2025 Natchez Reads Pick of the Year! Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.
LET THEM
Mel Robbins
If you’ve ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn’t you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words—Let Them—will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them Theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands—and this book will show you exactly how to do it.
ONE MISSISSIPPI
Mark Childress
You need only one best friend, Daniel Musgrove figures, to make it through high school alive. After his family moves to Mississippi just before his junior year, Daniel finds fellow outsider Tim Cousins. The two become inseparable, sharing a fascination with ridicule, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, and Arnita Beecham, the most bewitching girl at Minor High. But soon things go terribly wrong. The friends commit a small crime that grows larger and larger, and threatens to engulf the whole town. Arnita, the first black prom queen in the history of the school, is injured and wakes up a different person. And Daniel, Tim, and their families are swept up in a shocking chain of events.
Renaissance Man
From competitive ice skating to oil painting and faux bois, McGinley’s talents are many
STORY BY JAN GRIFFEY
PHOTOS ARE SUBMITTED
NATCHEZ — Matthew Charles McGinley is a modern-day renaissance man. His experience and expertise in the arts are wide and varied.
McGinley, a Natchez resident since 2023, was a Navy brat, born in Maryland, but considers Jefferson, Maine, home. When his military father retired, he moved the family to Jefferson to be near his family when McGinley was quite young.
“I was considered a child prodigy in oil painting,” McGinley said. “I took my first adult oil painting class when I was 6 years old. My grandmother was an oil painter and I started painting with her. When I was six, my mother was begging someone to do something with me so I would stop painting on her walls. I painted oil landscapes and then oil portraits. I had my first showing of my oil portraits at 12 years old, and I have a portrait I painted that hangs in the Maine State Civic Center.”
But the thrill and admiration wore off, and McGinley needed someplace else to look for praise. He found it in ice skating.
“It’s a weird thing when you are very good at something at a very young age,” he said. “You become addicted to people being impressed with you. When my skill averaged out to actually being appropriate for my age, I was no longer getting that dopamine release from people praising me. I had to look elsewhere for that and became a competitive figure skater. It’s cold in Maine. There was ice everywhere.”
After that thrill fizzled out, it was time for McGinley to go away to school. He moved to New York and transitioned to ballet.
“I went to the Purchase Conservatory and studied Vaganova Ballet. That’s a Russian-style of Ballet. There’s also a French-style ballet. They get picky about it.”
McGinley eventually moved back to Maine and went to work as a docent at Castle Tucker, a historic mansion in Wiscasset, Maine.
“I’ve always had a surface level interest in architecture history. Castle Tucker was built in about the same time period as Historic Auburn — actually it’s older. Castle Tucker was built in 1807,” he said. “It still has the original faux grain on its
staircase. At first glance, I couldn’t tell that it was faux grain. That was very interesting to me. People have always been faking it in terms of things in their homes. People use stick-on paper on their countertops to make them look like granite today. To think, they were doing that 250 years ago is wild.”
Now 32, McGinley moved to Natchez after receiving a job offer from Laine and Kevin Berry, who at the time had taken over the conservatorship of HIstoric Auburn.
“She sought me out on Instagram. She needed someone who would commit to living in Auburn and to giving tours. She also wanted me to restore the woodwork in the house,” he said.
“I stripped many layers of latex paint off the woodwork and restored the finish to what had been there originally. I used the technique they probably used, which was to create a primer of milk paint. Milk as a primer was easier to come by than linseed oil at the time.”
That painting technique is called faux bois, which is the French term for false wood.
While living in Maine, he started to practice faux bois at his own home and posted videos and photos on Facebook, which captured the interest of the Berrys.
McGinley moved to Natchez in November 2023 and has lived here since that time.
Today, he is the property manager and caretaker at Rosalie and is doing faux painting at properties here, including the Berrys’ Hope Farm.
“Right now I am doing the faux graining of the front door at D’Evereux. I am also working on a couple of portraits and landscapes,” McGinley said.
Life in the South is “certainly different,” he said.
“I grew up in a very rural part of Maine. There was a 50-50 chance that the gas station actually had gas.”
After living in New York City, he said he is happy to move back to a community similar to the small town he grew up in in Maine, but with many more conveniences.
“The people are very nice here, but I’m having trouble with the heat, tornadoes and insects.”
FAR LEFT: “The Hunt” by Matthew McGinley. Oil on linen, 36x48.
BELOW: Portrait of Laine Eden Berry of Hope Farm. by Matthew McGinley
MIDDLE: Still life, oil on linen, 24x36, by Matthew McGinley
BOTTOM: A charcoal study of Frank Dicksee’s “The Mirror,” by Matthew McGinley
HOME AND GARDEN
FHOME AND GARDEN
‘Always
a good Time’
Middletons’ 1825 home a retreat on Lake Concordia
STORY BY JAN GRIFFEY
PHOTOS BY ALLEN LAIRD
ERRIDAY, La. — Fred and Sandy Middleton have challenging and emotionally-taxing jobs.
He is chief deputy for Concordia Parish Sheriff David Hedrick. She is executive director of the Center for Violence Prevention, a non-profit for domestic violence victims — women and children. Located in Jackson, it is the only human trafficking shelter in Mississippi.
Their life at their home on Lake Concordia in many ways provides them with the ability to recharge and carry on.
“Fred and I both have very demanding jobs, so we enjoy the serenity of the lake,” Sandy Middleton said. “No matter the season, the variety of birds and wildlife, sunrises and sunsets are always special.”
Their house, known as Massony, was built in approximately 1825. It was once located in the rural area near Waterproof, Louisiana.
“Two sisters who owned a general store in Waterproof owned the house, which was involved in the flood of 1927,” Fred Middleton said. “It was moved to the town
ABOVE: Fred and Sandy Middleton
FAR LEFT: the Middletons’ Lake Concordia pier has been host to family gatherings and new baby ducklings. Mama ducks like to hatch in planters on the pier.
LEFT: The Middletons’ house was built in 1825 and moved from Waterproof, Louisiana, to its current location on Lake Concordia.
HOME AND GARDEN
ABOVE: The beams in the kitchen and family room came from one of the original Levy blue jean factories in Georgia and are probably as old as the house itself.
RIGHT: Sandy Middleton oversaw the interior design of the home, choosing colors and furnishings that are comfortable and that complement the lake landscape.
of Waterproof using horses and logs in 1927. They moved it just down the street from their store.”
The house was moved to its current location on Lake Concordia in 2008. The Middletons bought it and took possession of it in July 2009, thus beginning its extensive renovation.
“I tell people we bought a lot and a pier and they threw in a house for good measure,” he said. “It was in very bad
condition. It had nothing.”
One of the unique things about the house is it is as wide as it is long.
“Back then it was a French cookie cutter-type house. They were all basically a story and a half. When we redid it, we made it a full two stories,” Middleton said.
The Middletons were able to create a main living space featuring a family room, kitchen and dining area that flow into each other and are held up using large
wood beams.
“We got those beams from a Levy blue jeans factory in Georgia. Those beams are probably as old as the house is. It was one of the original Levy factories,” Middleton said.
Sandy Middleton documented the renovation process and put together a book of photos and memories of the process, lest they forget.
She handled the interior design with
the help of interior designer Vickie Cruise.
“Sandy knew what she wanted. Vickie was a big help,” Middleton said. “When you live in a 200 year old house, it’s about the character of the house. You can’t build that. When Vickie was making the drapes, she let her in to measure a window. I asked her, ‘Are you good now?’ She said, ‘No! I have to measure every one of them! Not one of them is the same size.’ ”
On Oct. 2, the Middletons will have been married 20 years.
“Just living on the water…There’s something about it. It’s just a refuge for long days and long weeks,” Middleton said. “We have a pontoon boat and enjoy afternoon cruises around the lake. And having the grandkids there and having the opportunity for them to take a boat ride or play in the pool or fish. It’s something special. We have had a tremendous
ABOVE: Throughout the home, Sandy Middleton chose period appropriate antiques as well as a mix of comfortable furnishings that fit well with the family’s lifestyle.
RIGHT: The pool blends in well with Lake Concordia beyond.
amount of geese born this year. And we have identified two bald eagles. They are beautiful in flight.
“We are so fortunate to live where we live. Each year the people who live on the lake do the Liberty Look. We would never sell our house because of our neighbors — Wayne and Diane Branton and Jimmy and Theresa Eames. It is such a pleasure living here and having neighbors like we do. It’s always a good time.”
Oh
Honey
TBeekeeper lives the golden dream
STORY BY SABRINA ROBERTSON PHOTOS BY BEN HILLYER
here are concerns that there isn’t much “money in the honey” anymore, as the bee population has been on a decline in recent years, with the use of weed killer, pesticides, and habitat destruction causing bee mortality to rise.
However, Ken Ensminger still actively maintains about 150 hives in an open-air apiary just off of Airport Road in rural Vidalia, Louisiana.
“At one time, I ran about 400 hives. I’m down to about 150 now,” he said. “It takes 20
barrels of honey for me to take care of everyone who wants my honey every year. That’s people who come back wanting the same honey over and over.”
Ensminger said he downsized not because he has had any problems keeping bees, but because, as he has gotten older, he can’t do it like he used to. His grandson Joshua Janway, however, took up the family business and is running a successful honey operation near Baton Rouge. Janway’s Raw Honey runs about 3,000 hives that supply stores all
around Louisiana, Ensminger said.
Ensminger doesn’t sell honey to stores much anymore — except to the Farm Supply stores in Vidalia and in Monterey. He has a few regular customers who buy honey from him directly.
However, from one hand to another, because people heard and tasted how good it was, Ensminger said his honey has traveled from Vidalia across the United States to
California. At one time, Ensminger said his honey traveled all the way to India.
“Kenny Cruz, an oil field consultant, gave this guy from India a jar of honey and that guy said he wanted four gallons,” Ensminger said. “So (Cruz) called me from Texas and asked me to get four gallons ready and it went back with that man to India. ... If people start eating my honey, they’re going to eat it. I think over 20 years of me doing this,
FAR LEFT: Ken Ensminger actively maintains about 150 hives in an open-air apiary just off of Airport Road in rural Vidalia, Louisiana. TOP LEFT: The bees in Ensminger’s hives are active after a recent splitting, where a strong hive is divided up to create new hives. ABOVE: Ensminger tends to his hives on a warm May afternoon.
BACKGROUND: An up-close look of the comb in Ensminger’s beehive.
FEATURE
not even trying to sell it, is proof of what I’m saying. I keep giving honey back to the same people because they like it.”
Some are addicted to pouring honey in their coffee every morning, he said. As for Ensminger, his favorite way to eat honey is by saturating pancakes with it.
“I just drown my pancakes in it,” he said.
What makes his honey different than anyone else’s?
It is unfiltered and all natural, he said.
A treasured gift of Ensminger’s is a picture of a golden jar of honey that hangs in his office on Moose Lodge Road.
“There is one thing you need to get a picture of, and that is a pint of honey in the sunshine,” he said. Unlike the honey found in most grocery stores, Ensminger’s honey is dark in the jar but has a reddish-golden color when held up in the light.
“It is strained, not filtered or pasteurized, and it’s so pretty,” he said. “Back in 2000, I was interviewed by The Natchez Democrat and that is one thing this guy was so fascinated by was how pretty the honey looked.”
He then made the statement, “There’s money in the honey,” which Ensminger said made the headline of the article about his beekeeping operation.
The picture that made the Democrat now hangs on his wall, gifted to him by his children.
It was around 1995 that Ensminger transitioned from a retired truck driver to running a
ABOVE: Ensminger holds up a frame from one of his hives to show the busy bees.
LEFT: The raw, unfiltered honey is dark in color until it is held up in the sunlight, exposing an appealing reddish gold.
BELOW: Bees crawl around the outside of one of Ensminger’s hives.
beekeeping business.
“I was hauling equipment for this honey company and they wouldn’t leave me alone until I learned out to do bees. That’s where I got started,” he said.
To know that it’s Ensminger’s honey, just look for the dog on the label, he said.
The dog, who was called Hope, came from a pound to his granddaughter’s house.
Ensminger said his granddaughter had gone to the pound and picked her out, but when he came to visit, the dog hopped into the back of his truck and rode with him home to Vidalia, where she spent the rest of her days.
“That dog went to church with me. She went everywhere with me,” Ensminger said. “I lost her several years ago but got her right when I first started the business.”
Ensminger is a natural with the bees and is unafraid of getting stung.
There’s a process done in the spring or early summer of creating a new hive from a strong, fully-developed hive by splitting its inhabitants into a new home to raise a new queen. However, the bees don’t necessarily like to be divided and can get particularly irritable during this time, he said.
“They’re so young, they’re feisty,” he said.
But that did not stop him from lifting the frame out of a hive, with bare arms exposed, and holding it up to examine the bees up close.
“If you don’t bother them, they don’t bother you.”
For John-Garrett Patrick, a Vidalia, Louisiana native who had been studying agricultural business at Louisiana State University, there has been a lot to glean from time spent abroad.
First, there was experiencing life in other cultures, realizing what American life has to offer and what we take for granted, he said.
Then there was sharing with the students in the small community of Lamphun, Thailand, which is no bigger than Natchez, what life is like for a countryman from Louisiana.
Patrick has used the flexibility of being a young-adult college student to travel abroad for studies in Spain, Costa Rica and different parts of Western Europe including the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Two of the European trips were related to learning the business side of agriculture, including about international trade relations, he said. His studies in Costa Rica were more tailored to learning about different types of agricultural farms like coffee, bananas and rice.
When an opportunity came open for Patrick to live abroad for a
totally different reason, teaching math and English to middle school students in Thailand for a semester, he was excited to try something new, he said.
How does someone in the agriculture business studies wind up teaching?
“I’d met someone while studying abroad in Spain who worked for the company I applied through and after I graduated with my Master’s Degree, I decided that was an opportunity I’d enjoy,” he said. “Studying abroad made me realize I enjoyed learning about other cultures and traveling to different places. What better way to do that than to move to Thailand and teach for six months?”
Of the 150 people in the program, there was only one other person from Louisiana and none from Mississippi and none of them were from rural communities, he said.
His stay in Thailand began in October 2024 and lasted through the end of February 2025.
Upon his arrival, there was a culture shock to be sure.
“Being in a rural town, almost the size of Vidalia, English proficiency
was almost zero,” he said. “Even just going to a restaurant and trying to order food was a challenge. It’s not like learning Spanish, which still uses the alphabet we’re used to. In Thai, they have whole different letters, so it was hard to read anything.”
The food in Thailand tended to be spicy, but not the kind of spicy a Louisiana Cajun would be used to, and was “very good.”
“Everything was fresh and made to order,” he said. “A lot of homes do not have kitchens in them because its way cheaper to just eat out, so I would eat out a lot.”
Often a restaurant would be just tables and chairs set up outside of someone’s home and informal in the sense that they didn’t have menus. “You would just tell them what you want and they would cook it for you,” he said Patrick said it was also different being the only person in a town who didn’t look Thai, which meant a lot of stares. Even his students, who got to see him daily, were fascinated by his brown curly hair, he said.
“They loved learning about Louisiana, both Baton Rouge and
Vidalia. I had the opportunity to come home for Christmas and brought some snacks back to them so they could try American snacks and they loved it.”
Patrick said he relied on Google Translate a lot, but also on his colleagues and his students to navigate being in a new place.
“The students I taught are on a path where they’ve been taking English class from elementary school with the end goal of being English proficient by the time they graduate,” he said. “I had some who were already fluent and some who were not so much and the ones who were fluent helped me also.”
Patrick said the experience has allowed him to make friends, both “with other people who went to teach through the same program as well as Thai friends and other teachers teaching at the school and who he still keeps up with on social media and WhatsApp. Students as well. On the
last day, they all asked for my Instagram and I gave them all my Instagram as a parting gift,” he said.
An interesting thing Patrick learned about Thailand, he said, is how educators are revered and respected, because in the Buddhist country, Buddha himself was a teacher.
As a teacher, Patrick said he was offered rides, food and gifts from strangers and was never disrespected, not even in the middle school classroom where behavioral problems were minimal.
What is next for John-Garrett Patrick?
“My end goal would be to work in the political, governmental realm, advocating for farmers and making sure their resources are not taken advantage of,” he said. In fact, after getting his undergraduate degree from LSU, Patrick did a summer internship with Congresswoman Kat Cammack in Washington, D.C., who served on the
House Agriculture Committee, to gain insight about the inner workings of American government, particularly in farm and agriculture policy.
While studying at LSU, he worked for Louisiana 4-H in Agriculture Advocacy to help the often-overlooked farming industry.
The most important lesson Patrick said he learned abroad is that, “We take so much for granted — in our small town, but also in America as a whole. My advice to anyone is that people should take a step back and realize how good we have it, even in Vidalia. Things like running water, paved roads. Even though they might have bumps and potholes in them, they’re there. I would encourage others to get out of Vidalia and to get out of Louisiana and the U.S. for a bit and see other cultures for themselves, to see how other people live. Once you do that, it’s a lot easier to take that step back.”
ABOVE: This is the scenery from a canoe ride during Patrick’s time teaching abroad in Thailand.
LEFT: Stunning Buddhist statues at Wat Phra That Haripunchai Woramahawihan in Lamphun, Thailand.
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Local landlords share delight in hosting Purple Martin colonies
STORY BY STACY GRANING
Bob Strader is landlord to an itinerant group of tenants.
He never knows quite when they will arrive or depart. Strader never knows how many will show up – a dozen, two dozen, more – and they always leave with more than few new babies in tow. While visiting, they are noisy – singing and chirping loudly in the early mornings and evenings. They pay no rent.
Yet he eagerly awaits their return each year. After all, being a “Purple Martin landlord” is an honor and a joy.
Strader is one of several Purple Martin
landlords in the Natchez area. These landlords create nesting colonies for Purple Martins –one of the most interesting and popular species of birds in North America.
“Martins are incredibly interesting birds,” said Strader, a retired wildlife biologist who specializes in migratory birds. “They migrate in the fall to South America, spending their winter mostly in Brazil. They will gather in one or more huge, communal roosts of over a million birds prior to spring migration. As one of the first spring migrants to return to the United States, the adult males – called scouts – arrive at my colony from early to
PHOTOS ARE SUBMITTED & STOCK IMAGES
mid-February.”
Females quickly follow and the pairs quickly begin the nesting process.
“They lay four to seven eggs per nest in early April and by the third or fourth week of April the eggs are hatching,” Strader said.
They are totally naked when first hatching, but the young quickly grow on a diet of insects. Within a month, they are fledging and by the end of June, most of the birds have moved on to large community roosts as they stage for fall migration.
“Some of the roosts have become fairly well-known, including ones in Nashville, Tennessee; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Bomb Island in Lake Murry, South Carolina,” he said.
But before the birds take to their large communal roosts, they are making homes in the colonies created by Strader and other Purple Martin
Landlords, like Karen Dardick. While Strader’s colony is modest by some counts, Dardick’s colony was home to more than 60 baby martins this spring.
“Once you get started and are successful, the adults return every year,” Strader said.
Native Americans were among the first to recognize the importance of the birds in helping control insect populations in their crops and would erect nesting gourds on high poles for the Purple Martin. That tradition continues today.
The colonies – some made of gourds or other types of traditional Purple Martin houses – are necessary for the species. “These birds are basically totally dependent on man-made houses,” Strader said. “And they are an important part of our ecosystem.”
Martins, he said, “have an insatiable appetite for flying
ABOVE: Dozens of Purple Martins return each year to Bob Strader’s colonies.
BELOW: The Purple Martins are known for consuming insects, including mosquito hawks, and helping control insect populations.
insects throughout their life.” The most common insects consumed include beetles, flies, bees and wasps. “I read that one Martin can consume 41,000 insects per year,” Strader said.
Sadly, the Purple Martin population has been in decline. “It declined by as much as 50 percent over the past 50 years and 30 percent over the past 20 years,” Strader said. “The primary threats to the population are thought to be sub-lethal mercury ingestion on the wintering grounds that may reduce reproductive success; a reduction in flying insect populations; and nest site competition with two introduced species: house sparrows and European starlings.”
That is why Strader and fellow enthusiasts are hoping to encourage more residents to become Purple Martin Landlords. “Erecting a Purple Martin colony is an easy way to
benefit the species,” he said.
Martins prefer their colonies to be in the open, and experts generally recommend that the colony be at least 30 yards from the nearest tree. “But I’ve seen them use colonies with trees much closer than 30 yards,” Strader said. “I’ve always associated colonies as being near lakes, ponds and rivers but my colony is six blocks from the Mississippi River, so the connection is not critical.”
The birds are, he added, “highly tolerant” of people, so that’s not a concern. “Some sources actually report higher breeding success near houses or other structures frequented by people.”
And most of all, he said, the birds are a joy.
“As one of our largest swallows, they are incredibly graceful in flight and quite musical, having a characteristic chattering call,” he said. “They are a pure joy to watch and listen to.”
RIGHT: The birds are naked when hatched and grow to fledging in about a month.
DOWNTOWN UNLOCKED
The Downtown Natchez Alliance hosted a Downtown Natchez Real Estate showcase on May 15, which included a walking tour of available properties for lease or sale in Downtown Natchez and a preview of the new Downtown Doorway real estate website.
1. Richard Lehrman, Bean the dog, Sheila Lehrman and Lexi Lehrman of Buttery Cakery
2. TJ Baggett, Elizabeth Greer, Dian Lusher, Leah Hunter, Norma West, Liz Dantone and Chesney Doyle of the Downtown Natchez Alliance
Kate Lee Laird and Marsha Colson, a real estate agent with Crye-Leike Stedman Real Estate
4. Sheila and Wayland Lewis and their dog Tank
3.
PHOTOS BY Sabrina Robertson
the
8. A crowd gathered at the real estate showcase on May 15 at 701 Franklin St.
9. The walking tour passes by an old former furniture warehouse for sale at 521 Franklin Street.
10. The real estate walking tour travels down Franklin Street in Downtown Natchez.
5. David Hawkins, John Grady Burns and Jason Dauphin
6. Leah Hunter, executive director of the Downtown Natchez Alliance
7. Liz Dantone guides the walking tour at
real estate showcase in Downtown Natchez
PILGRIMAGE GARDEN CLUB DERBY DAY PARTY
Members of the Pilgrimage Garden Club celebrated Derby Day with their annual garden party at Stanton Hall.
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
1. Betsy Mosby, Noelle Stewart, Leigh Saunders, Lisa Falkenheiner
2. Sarah Smith, Christi Rabb, Emily Maxwell, Noelle Stewart, Melinda Yarbrough, Christy Williams
3. Christy Williams, Melinda Yarbrough, Noelle Stewart, Christi Rabb, Sarah Smith, Emily Maxwell
4. Dining Room florals
5. Christi Rabb, Terrel Williams, Sarah Smith
6. Lauren Ashley Richard
CHEESEBURGERS IN PARADISE
Members of the Pilgrimage Garden Club enjoyed Cheeseburgers in Paradise and a pool party at Stanton Hall.
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
1. Caroline Garner, Kakki Gaude, Elizabeth Ryan.
2. Grace Rehms, Aubrey Ryan, Ella Blase Gaude, Piper Smith.
3. Tim McCary, David Gaude.
4. Tim and Emily Malloy with their children.
7. Katie Frieberger, Noelle Stewart, Ann Gaude, Sarah Carter Smith,
8. Terrel Williams, Regina Charboneau
5. Emily Plauche, Marsha Colson.
6. Ella Blase Gaude, Piper Smith.
9. Charles and Krysten Powers with daughter Abby
8. Roy Robertson, Virginia Rice Robertson, Clarise Martin and Eric Wilson
